Portfolio 2: Who Knew???

Throughout the course of this class, American Literature: 1915-present, my classmates and I were required to create and maintain our very own online social network. While tackling an assigned reading, we were expected to create blog entries examining something worthwhile we encountered in the text, usually a direct quotation. While these blog entries were required, they were not rigid, because they allowed us to express ourselves. I chose to title my second blog portfolio "Who Knew???" because I never imagined myself blogging at all much less enjoying it. In fact, I confess that I had a very vague idea of what blogging was prior to taking this class. Sure, I heard the term mentioned or saw it floating around online, but I never bothered to look into it. I personally enjoyed blogging because it allowed me to find myself within a given work; in other words, I could delve into an assigned reading, and extract something that evokes my unique interests. I found that I most enjoyed comparing the implications of a quoatation with another assigned reading we completed in the course. I also liked to relate my findings to personal experiences. Through blogging, I not only got to share my ideas, but I also got to benefit from those of my classmates, who also shared their thoughts upon reading my blog entries.

Coverage: I am proud to report that all of my blog entries are based on a direct quotation, and I have identified in some way (author, title, page number) the assigned reading from which it came. I struggled with providing a link back to the course web page devoted to a particular reading in the former portion of the course. I have mastered this technique by now, however, so all of the blog entries in my second portfolio contain a "trackback". For thoroughness, I will merely include here some blog entries not better accounted for by another category.

Interaction: My ability to interact with my peers has improved since my first portfolio, because in addition to commenting on my classmates' blog entries, I have also tried to keep up with responding to comments left on my own blog entries.

Depth: As I mentioned in the introduction, one of my favorite things to do while blogging was to compare. I demonstrated depth by comparing the assigned reading with other assigned readings and real life experiences.